Seedsilly: It's funny how a seemingly dreadful accident turns into a happy learning experience! I never grew strawberries before and was terribly concerned that they would just all die. Like you, I believe that sheltering them made all the difference. Isoh: My SWC's were homemade with two 3-gal buckets and a 6 oz. yogurt container for the wicking chamber. I used a small piece of landscape fabric to surround the wicking chamber (so the soil wouldn't get into the water reservoir, PLUS...I lined the entire bucket with a large piece of landscape fabric that laid on top of the wicking chamber so that when I removed the rootball, I wouldn't have to worry about 'fuddling' with the wicking chamber. For my soil less mix, I used Raybo's (then) experimental mix of peat, bark fines and perlite with some lime mixed in for rooting the daughter plants. The older plants were originally planted in a denser mix which contained peat, compost and perlite. Although the denser mix worked fine for the smaller containers, it did hold a LOT of water and I have since abandoned using it in favor of a more porous mixture based on Raybo's. As far as fertilizer goes, I added blood meal, phosphate, greensand, lime and Azomite when I made the soil to give the plants a boost. I was pretty lazy after that (OK...neglectful ;-) and only fed them one other time with MG added to the reservoir. I did try using fish emulsion, but take it from me...that stuff is just RANK in a water reservoir. I ended up flushing every water reservoir shortly after adding it. This year, I'm still trying to figure out a reasonable feeding schedule and what type of fertilizer to use. I have both chemical and organic. Only time will tell I guess! Donna H.

Technically, you shouldn't be watering from the top with a SWC. I have one SWC this year and lately I have to fill the 1.5 gal. reservoir daily. The tomato plant is feeding great from the cup of fertilizer I spread around the perimeter of the container before I covered it. I'm not sure how much fertilizer would be required for a 37 gal SWC, but whatever it is, it should do the trick. There are many threads on the subject. I'm having a lot of fun with my lone SWC. I'm growing a Rutgers in it, and the plant is going wild, looks teriffic, and is setting lots of tomatoes. bt.........seems like you could almost still squeeze in a 3 month growing season in Georgia. I would definitely try it. What do you have to lose.

The NAPA floor dry will not behave the same as pearlite. It retains a lot of moisture and will increase the wicking of your mix. You would have to increase the bark or decrease the potting mix, or probably both. NAPA floor dry must be screened to remove the fine particles, or it will make your mix stay like wet cement. Also make certain to get the correct product (I think the part # is 8822). NAPA sells another type of floor dry that isn't suitable for potting mix. JustaGuy used to make a SWC mix with well aged pine bark fines and turface (I think 5:2). My test of this mix with NAPA Floor Dry was a failure, most likely because I didn't screen out the fine particles.

Just returned from the EB forum, where I posted about this problem and got several shrill responses. However, one poster challenged me that the bark fines probably reduced aeration. Think he was right and I'm posting/copying the messages from that thread in case it is interesting to anyone else. Or if anyone has additional insights. Donald1800 reply: The basic problem that I see is your use of "Forest Biproducts" in the form of 'Bark Fines'. It would seem to me that this woody ingredient would absorb too much water, be very slow to release it to the plants, end up being way too heavy/dense, and settle down with a limited amount of air space, resulting in an ideal 'swamp-like' environment for fungus/mold and bad anerobic bacteria. And, although 'Powdered Volcanic Rock' may be a good soil additive for trace/micro nutrients, not at the 1/4 rate you are using. I would only use 1/8 - 1/4 C per EB. At the rate you are using it, it would only add to the weight/density of the mix and compound the problerm. This "system" you have developed may work alright in traditional in ground, typical containers, etc., but with a constant water supply is only siutable for growing celery. If you are convinced that your "system" is fine and the AWS is at fault, try growing celery in the EB you keep with your mix and AWS - if it grows just fine, I have proved my point. Don't feel to badly about your experience. As an old time organic gardener, I too thought that I knew what I was doing when switching over to the EB. However, I soon learned that everything 'I knew' could not be transferred to the EB. As such, I have been highly recommending that ALL new EB gardeners, with previous gardening experience or a noob should start out with EarthBox's Complete Kit that includes everything needed except the AWS or Staking System. This will give everyone a full season of good experience that can be compared to future single box experiments that everyone wants to do. This is what you should have done, as the EarthBox system requires a different environment to work right. Trust me - your set up is disaster for plants in the EB with AWS. Donald1800 emgardener reply Thanks Donald1800, Your bark fines comment could be it. I had read on another chat board, gardenweb, about a well aerated mix using >50% bark fines. However with that much bark fines the mix won't wick well so I reduced it to 25%. Thinking about it now, the peat moss totally surrounds each bark piece, so the bark really doesn't add to aeration like it does in a mostly bark mix (where the pieces touch each other leaving air gaps). Interesting. Oh well, this is what keeps gardening a continual learning experience. On the volcanic issue, I actually washed the dust away and didn't use it in the mix, only used the pieces left. I did catch on that dust would really make a soggy mess. Regards